Jak 2: Silent Hero
by The Other Side of Darkness
Summary: In Jak 2, right at the beginning, Erol takes him prisoner and takes him to the Baron for Dark Eco experimentation. In this, Jak gets away, meets up with Keira, and the two of them are forced to try to make a life in Haven while they search for a way back home. A lot happens along the way. Mute Jak. JakxKeira, Eventual TessxDaxter.
1. Chapter One: Haven

This is based on that ever elusive question of 'What if...?'

Specifically, what if Jak hadn't been captured at the beginning of Jak Two? What if he escaped and found Keira? What if he didn't find Keira right away?

And that brings us to the second part of this. _**THE CHALLENGE!**_

The Challenge is simple. I will be writing out what happened if Jak had managed to escape and find Keira instead of being caught. I'd like someone else to write the alternative of him escaping but not finding Keira.

_**Rules for the challenge!**_

One, Jak must immediately find Daxter. Maybe they ran in the same direction, maybe Daxter didn't run off. Just make it happen.

Two, Jak will still not be able to talk. I think him not talking would be an interesting thing to see. It's harder to express one character to others without that character being able to speak.

Three, Jak can not meet up with Keira _or_ the underground until at least two years later.

_**The Optional Bosses!**_

These are not required, but would be nice to see.

One, Jak becomes well known over the two years as a silent hero. Has a reputation for being a badass amongst the Krimson Guard.

Two, if Jak becomes a hero, he must have a folk song about his deeds. You do not need to actually write it out, just have it at least mentioned in passing.

Three, Jak has scars because of all his fighting. Most notable must be his scars from the wump-bee nest when he was a kid.

That is all. On with the story.

**Chapter One: Haven**

The screams of Keira, Daxter and Samos were nearly overridden by the sound of the Rift Rider being torn apart by the swirling vortex they found themselves in. The vibrating had only grown worse over the short yet long seconds that they had been launched into this horrid affair. With a final metallic groan, the welding gave way and the Rift Rider fell apart. Keira flew off to the right, Samos to the left, and Jak and Daxter were miraculously holding on to the same handlebar.

"Jak!" Samos yelled, "Find yourself!"

Before the green-blonde haired elf could try to decipher that odd message, the vortex gave way to a cityscape the likes of which he had never seen approaching him and Daxter at high velocity. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the comet that was the hunk of the Rider that Keira held onto heading for ground at basically the same speed. He prayed to the Precursors for her safety.

Seeing the ground approaching quicker than he was sure he could at all deal with, Jak began to tuck his body in to get ready to roll with the momentum.

The impact was so jarring that the elf teen was surprised that he had broken nothing. His back ached, his head throbbed, and he felt more than a little dizzy, but other than that he was fine.

He sat up, rubbing the back of his head to alleviate the pain, and noticed Daxter next to him, still holding onto the handle bar from the Rift Rider. His face seemed momentarily frozen in fear, not that he could really be blamed.

Jak took that second to look around the city he and his best friend had landed in. There was metal everywhere. It seemed to cover everything but the sky. Jak could just barely make out mountains in the distance, over the high walls of this metropolis, and he wondered if they were covered in metal as well.

The other glaringly obvious thing were all the other elves. Sandover Village, with it's grand total populace of ten people was one of the biggest villages Jak had ever come across, but here, from his spot on an elevated walkway, he could already see at least fifty, maybe more.

He was prevented from anymore observations by Daxter's return to consciousness.

A frown crossed over the ottsel's face as he threw the handle violently away from himself, and exclaimed, "Okay, I swear! That is the last time I ever, EVER, touch any Precursor crap!" Jak would have laughed at his friend's response to their ill fated trip through the Rift Ring, but his well honed battle instincts made him aware of a group of odd elves approaching him and his orange friend.

The first two were a pair of beefy looking men in red armor, wearing face plates, and holding what looked like streamlined versions of the Yellow Eco Sage's Eco Blaster. Behind them was a red headed orange eyed man in yellow clothing. He wasn't nearly as buff as the first two, but the armor plate on his shoulder proclaimed him to be a commander.

"There he is," the man said as he glared at Jak with a contempt the elf teen couldn't understand, "Move in!" the soldiers rushed in the last few steps and pointed their blasters in his face.

"Step away from the animal!" One shouted, his voice slightly muffled by the face place, but no less menacing.

Daxter, sensing a fight to come, screamed and darted between the legs of the elves in the red gear. One turned to follow him, but the man in yellow stopped him.

"Forget the rat, the baron wants him!" the red head in yellow pointed at Jak, not taking his eyes off the teen for a moment. His smirk only grew more sinister as one of the other two moved in, pulling his gun around so the butt was lined up with Jak's face.

"We've been waiting for you," the man in yellow sneered. Everything was going exactly as the baron told him it would.

And then he felt pain.

At the last second, just before the butt of the gun hit him, Jak moved. Adrenaline flooding his system, he moved faster than he even knew he could.

The gun came down towards his forehead. Jak leaned to the side, gripped the gun and kicked the bulky man in the gut. He then spun to the left, slamming his elbow into the man's temple, knocking him out and wrenching the gun from his hand. He flipped the gun around and swung it like a club at the second man in red armor, taking him down as well with a blow to the head. Lastly, in a final move before he ran off in the direction he'd seen Daxter disappear, he swiveled forward onto his hands and planted both feet into the yellow suited man's abdomen.

The man grunted in pain, but was too dazed to get up right away as Jak ran for his life from the psychos with the guns.

The soft '_pang-pang-pang_' of his feet against the metal of this city was a constant rhythm as he darted around a corner. He saw Dax just as the ottsel was turning around to go back and help his friend. He grinned appreciatively. Even though it would have been too late at that point, it really was the thought that counted.

He didn't even pause in his all out sprint away from the scene of the near abduction as he snagged Daxter and set him back on his shoulder.

"Whoa!" the orange and fuzzy one yelped, "Scared the hell out of me! Thank the Precursors you're okay, Jak!" Daxter tightened his grip around the Eco Warrior momentarily, "'Course, I was about to go back there and whup some ass, just to get you back," he boasted, "but it's good to see you had it handled this time. Now, the next order of business- RUN LIKE HELL!"

Jak grinned at his friend again before pushing himself to run faster still. He dodged other citizens, veered around corners, an even vaulted another contingent of the creeps in red. Not wanting to take the time to knock these one's out in case the others had gotten up to give chase, he jumped over the edge of the walkway and fell nearly ten feet before he snagged a pipe with his left arm and flipped onto the metal ground below. He then ducked around another corner and just kept running.

His heart beating like a drum, his pulse pounding in his ears and his lungs burning with air that tasted of oil and smoke, Jake must have ran for what felt like hours.

He only finally stopped when he found a secluded corner, with a large pipe poking out of the wall and curving into the ground that he could easily hide behind.

"What the hell is goin' on?!" Daxter hissed to his friend, "Where did that ring send us?" Jak shrugged as he took a deep breath. "Where do we go now?"

Jak leaned to the side and peaked around the pipe. He could see more people and more red wearing soldiers walking about, but the latter didn't seem all that much in a buzz to find him. He pulled back before he was spotted, just in case, but thought about it all for a moment before answering his friend.

He looked up at the sky to get his bearings then pat the left side of his chest before miming looking around.

"Right, Keira, did you see where she landed?"

Jak nodded and pointed off to the south.

Dax looked the way he pointed, looking over the top of the pipe, before turning back to the other teen, "Alright, we got a plan, let's move before those psychos come back for more."

The green tinged blonde nodded and stood up slowly, making his way south, mostly sticking to the shadows. Daxter as usual, rode on his shoulder and basically took in the sights, pointing things out to the hero.

"Whoa, look at that!" The orange critter exclaimed as he pointed out a vehicle. Unlike the Zoomer Keira had made for Jak back in Sandover, this one had no propeller and looked like it could seat three comfortably. The fins adjusted accordingly to how the driver steered a wheel instead of a set of handlebars. "I want one!" Jak nodded, his eyes taking in the other models that he could see flying about now as he carefully moved through the city.

"Man, Keira is gonna love it here," Dax said with a grin as looked around at all the casual display of technology that they'd never seen in Sandover or any of the other villages they'd been to. But it also brought a thought to Daxter that he hated having to voice. It just wasn't in him to be the mopey one, but it did need to be said.

"Jak, you know it was a miracle we survived, right? You gotta realize that Keira might... might have..." he trailed off, but he didn't need to finish.

Jak nodded to the little guy a determined frown on his face as his steps sped up a little.

There was complete silence for a moment, not even Dax willing to voice exactly what might have happened to the mechanic.

But needing to lighten the mood, the orange one started talking again.

"But if we do find her, Keira is gonna be like a kid in a candy shop! I mean, just look at that!" he pointed to a holographic device that was spouting some random propaganda about the current leader, "Can you imagine what she'd say to that?"

A smile once again crossed the elf's face as he thought about it.

"Probably take her about twenty seconds to pull it apart and figure out how it could make your Zoomer faster," Daxter smiled himself, the both of them reminiscing about how the pretty elf spent as many hours in the garage next to her room as they did adventuring. Even the ottsel had to admit that Keira's skill with technology was prodigal, and if a motor was involved, then she was even better.

Jak's grin returned for a few moments. Keira was alive. That's all there was to it. He wouldn't let there be any other outcome.

999

The landing, soft as it was, was still enough to smash the air out of her lungs, which was very unfortunate. The first gasp filled her mouth with polluted water, not air, and the next did the same. At first she panicked, tried to hyperventilate, wound up swallowing more of the foul tasting water, and kicked frantically trying to reach the surface. After an eternity she finally breached the surface and proceeded to cough up the liquid that had partially filled her lungs and gasp in the air that finally presented itself to her.

After treading water for a bit, savoring every bit of oxygen she could get, Keira finally began to look around. Like Jak and Daxter, she marveled at all the people, the metal and the Zoomers she could see all over the place. There seemed to be several models, each of varying colors, with the same ever present absence of the rotors that had been on Jak's Zoomer. If it weren't for the fact that Jak, Samos and Daxter were all missing, she might have been tempted to just find one of these new ones and take it apart to see what made it tick. Instead, she moved through the water towards one of the rather steep ramps.

Just as she was beginning to pull herself up the ramp, a hand was thrust in her face. A hand attached to an arm, that was attached to a torso, that had a heard with a very familiar face.

"Oh my god! Jak!" She took his offered hand, he pulled her up to ground level and she embraced him. He didn't even care that she was soggy from her landing in the closed in port, he just held her to him. Daxter even went as far as to pat her shoulder in greeting.

"Good to see you too," the orange ottsel intoned to the mechanic.

Keira finally pulled back, "Did you find Daddy?"

Jak shook his head, but pointed back towards the north.

"Well," Keira began, bucking up to begin the walk in that direction, "Let's go get him."

"Hold on there," Daxter said, "It ain't quite that simple."

"What do you mean, what's wrong?"

Jak pointed to one of the bulky elves in the red armor and Daxter explained, "Right after we landed some joker in a yellow outfit and a couple of those guys tried to take Jak here somewhere. Don't know what it was about, but they didn't seem like they were takin' him on a friendly visit to the doctor's hut."

"Did they say anything?" Keira was looking at Jak as she asked, a hand on his arm.

Jak nodded and did his best to explain it without the use of a pen and paper, telling her, with some quick charades where he mimed waiting on something then pointing to himself, that they had apparently known he was coming.

"But how is that possible?" the mechanic questioned with a hand on her chin, "None of us have ever been here before, how could they know you were coming?"

Both Jak and Daxter shrugged, "I dunno, but we gotta find Old Green Stuff and get the hell out of here. This place is a little too hot, ya know?" Daxter gave a pointed look to a group of patroling elves

Keira nodded, though she did look longingly at one of the vehicles, earning a couple of grins from the boys.

"Maybe Daddy can tell us where we are, and what they wanted."

With that final thought, the three of them now began to look for the fourth member of their group while staying out of the way of the dudes in red.

999

"You let him get away?!" Baron Praxis yelled incredulously at his subordinate. His large form was rather imposing as he shook with rage, especially with the metal cover the left half of his face from the cheek bone up.

"He fought back, sire," Erol, the elf in yellow, tried to explain, "We were unprepared for his level of skill."

"You were defeated by a _boy!_" The Baron roared, slamming his hand down on the table they were speaking over, "A boy that had just survived a crash landing in the middle of the city, and you and your men were so incompetent you couldn't subdue him!" The Baron's shouting could be heard several levels down, "Convince me not to demote you so far you'll be scrubbing toilets in the prison's D-Block."

Erol shuddered just imagining that. D-Block were the 'political' prisoners, people that the Baron wanted to disappear for one reason or another. They were also the first on the list for the Dark Warrior project. Such made their... _emissions_ more disgusting in nature. Erol himself had seen the highly corrosive gunk they injected an elf with burn its way through his stomach before they knew to cut back the doses.

"In the slums, a patrol caught a man that matches the descriptions we have of the Shadow. There are some minor discrepancies, enough to make us think he might be a body double, but we should be able to squeeze some valuable information about the Underground from him."

Praxis stared at Erol with undisguised anger in his eye, but he considered the man's words.

"Very well, you keep your post... for now," he stood straight and crossed his thick arms, "Do not fail me like this again."

Erol gave a severe nod, "Do you want us to put out a bulletin on that boy?"

Praxis thought about it for a moment, "No. He was a promising subject, perhaps the most promising," he glared pointedly at Erol for his failure, "but he was not the only one. If you can find him again, great, but for now, focus your efforts on rooting out the underground. We must crush those mongrels and their Shadow before they undermine our war with the Metal Heads, or worse, find the brat."

He twirled around, his cape swishing dramatically as he stormed out of the room. Erol watched him go, thankful to still have his job, but swearing to himself that the boy, this 'Jak' would pay for this. One way or another. He slammed his blaster back into its holster and made for the elevator.

999

The path to finding Samos was blocked on two fronts. One, they couldn't ask the local authorities if they'd seen him, seeing as the local authorities were the thugs that had tried to kidnap Jak in the first place. Two, the way to an older part of the city was blocked by some sort of energy barrier.

"This is really marvelous," Keira said as she lay her hand against the shield, feeling the energy thrumming against her hand.

"Yeah, great," Daxter drawled as he watched people and hover cars pass through it like it didn't exist, "Now how do we get through?"

"Ya need a Security Pass," a man told them giving them a funny look, "You need a Security Pass to get everywhere in this city. Everyone knows that."

"Oh!" Keira blinked and then tried to look for a believable lie as quickly as she could, but Dax beat her to it, thankfully.

"Yeah, we're new to these parts. Never been here before," Daxter told him truthfully.

The elf blinked at them for a moment or two before a welcoming grin split his face.

"Well then, welcome to Haven City. What you're looking at here is a Green Level Security Barrier," The man gestured to said glowing green wall of energy, "That means just about everyone has clearance to go there. Now, there are four levels of security that I know of. This green here separates the Slums from South Town, that's where we are on this side of the barrier. The Slums are a really low class residential area, but," the man looked left and right then whispered, "The Underground is rumored to be stationed there. The Krimson Guard patrol that area more heavily than nearly any other.

"Here in South Town is the industrial district. The power grid maintenance office, construction equipment and the port. I'm guessin' that's where you folks come from?" he questioned them.

The three of them looked to each other then nodded.

"Yeah, we just kinda dropped in," Dax said with a grin the man didn't understand.

"Hmm, well, if you need work you should talk to a guy named Krew at the Hip Hog Heaven. Guy's got fingers in all the pies, or so they say, in more than one way," The guy suppressed a snicker at a joke he was sure these youngsters wouldn't get, "Anyway, be wary, make sure you let him know what kind of work you're looking for, or you might end up in a firefight."

Jak raised an eyebrow at that, Keira covered her mouth as she realized what the man was saying, and Daxter gulped, "Yeah, got it, we'll, uh, be real clear about what we want to do."

"Next is the Yellow Level Security. There you'll find the palace grounds," he pointed up at the massive palace, so tall it was supported by four huge wire at each corner of the city, "And then the Commercial District. It's got all the cool stuff, really, the best clothing, the latest games, and, most importantly, the stadium. You really can't stay in Haven without going to the stadium and seeing the races. Erol, commander of the Krimson Guard, is the best Racer this side of the ocean!

"Then you have Red Level, that leads to the Bizarre and the agricultural area. It's exactly what it sounds like, honestly. Only thing of interest there is an old fortune teller named Onin. People say she's never wrong in her predictions. And that finally brings us to the Purple Level.

"With a Purple Security Pass You get a tour of the palace. From what I hear, the only ones with that level of Security Pass are the Krimson Guard, the elves that win the Class One races, and the Baron himself. Must be a sight to see, looking out one of those windows."

Jak was frowning in thought as he went over all the new data he'd been introduced to. It was odd to think that a city like this existed in the world and no one back where they came from had ever heard of it.

Keira was quick to point out a question that had been bugging her from the beginning.

"Why do you have these security barriers?" she turned back to the energy field, "Seems kind of much just to draw lines in the dirt. Is it meant to keep someone contained?"

"Why, the Metal Heads of course!" The man answered easily. Seeing their blank, questioning looks the man whistled, "Wow, you youngsters must come from way off the beaten path if you've never heard of Metal Heads."

"What's a metal head?" Daxter asked, voicing the thoughts of all three of them.

"A Metal Head," The man said with a shudder as he thought of the horror stories he'd heard about the damned things, "Is the nastiest creature you've ever heard of. That whole Lurker attack a thousand or so years back is nothin' compared to the war going on now. I don't know exactly what they want, but Metal Heads are like a plague, they destroy everything they touch and move on to the next thing. You can always tell a Metal head by the glowing yellow gem in its forehead. Bout the size of one of those Precursor Orbs, they are."

"And these Metal Heads are attacking the city?" Keira asked, looking around to see if one was lurking in the shadows. With the aide of the Lurkers Gol and Maya had nearly destroyed the world with Dark Eco. If these metal heads were worse than that... Wow, she couldn't even complete the thought.

"Yeah, the KG are on constant patrol for Metal Heads and that terrorist group I mentioned earlier, the Underground. But just in case they fail, we've got these barriers. Anyone or thing that doesn't have a Security Pass can't go through it. And even beyond that, we've got a barrier around the whole city. It'd take a miracle, or more like a disaster for a Metal head to get in."

Daxter visibly wiped away a bit of sweat from his brow. Long as they had all those defenses, it'd be easy to stay safe... as long as they didn't run afoul of that guy who tried to take Jak.

"So how do we get a Security Pass?" the mechanic asked.

The man smiled at the teen girl and reached into his pocket, "Tell ya what, you kids promise to see a race on my behalf, and I'll give you my Yellow Security Pass." He held out a square device.

"No, we couldn't," Keira tried to reject the charity, but the man would have none of it.

"Don't worry about it, it'll be easier for me to get another one than for newcomers like you to," he pushed the device into Jak's hand, a grin on his face. He walked through the green energy barrier before Keira or even Daxter could protest.

"So... uh... guess we go looking for that yellow barrier, right?"

Keira looked to Jak who shrugged his right shoulder, then nodded, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to see a race..." Then she brightened, "Maybe I can even get a look in one of their garages!"

Jak laughed silently as her techie side made itself known finally, after he knew she'd been suppressing since she climbed out of the water.

**Chapter One: Haven End**


	2. Work Part One

Chapter Two: Work

The stadium was massive. Easily able to see two to three hundred people, Jak, Daxter and Keira were feeling a bit of culture shock. They knew, just from walking through Haven for the past few hours trying to find the stadium that this place blew Sandover out of the water in population.

Actually seeing so many elves in one place though was rather daunting. The subtle roar of so many talking at once was deafening to the three of them in a way they'd never before experienced. And as the excitement rippled through the crowd when one racer took the lead over another, the roar grew to a point that three of them were forced to cover their ears.

And the music! It's crashing, banging, explosive notes and melodies was nearly as overwhelming as seeing this many people. They were barely able to keep up with the happenings on the track.

The race itself was brutal. Racers slammed each other into walls, tried to hit and punch each other, and even tried to push one another into bottomless pits placed around the track as obstacles. It was more violent than they were prepared to see for a race. Keira's hands were apparently permanently stuck over her mouth, her jaw hanging open and her pupils dilated. Jak placed a hand on her shoulder, to calm her while he stared at the goings on with a kind of interested disapproval. Inside himself he felt his ego saying that he could easily win these races, without having to resort to hitting his opponents, and he seriously couldn't understand why the crowd was cheering on a bunch of cheaters.

Even Daxter was struck speechless. The sheer violence of it somehow tainting the enjoyment they would normally be getting from such an event.

Finally, the race ended. A rather nondescript elf managed to take the lead at the end by hitting some kind of booster. Three of the other seven were dead, and some of the survivors looked murderous at the revelation of their losses.

The crowd roared, either with approval or disappointment was up in the air, before a hovering platform began to descend from the ceiling. Silence rippled outwards and the person on the platform became visible.

"That's him!" Daxter hissed, pointing at the man that was now at the center of attention, "That's the jerk that tried to take Jak away!"

Jak nervously glanced around, looking left and right, making sure that none of those 'Krimson Guard' guys were around. Seeing none, though he did sink into his seat a little to try to make himself less noticeable, Jak turned his blue eyes on the red haired elf in yellow.

Keira too was paying close attention, now using _her_ presence to calm Jak. If this was the guy trying to take Jak, they needed to learn what they could about him.

"Congratulations..." he paused to read the man's name off a digital terminal, "Donnovan. You have made it to the Class One race next week. It is nice to see a new face in my circuit."

The elf that won the race just now smiled appreciatively, if a little nervously, and nodded his head.

"Thank you, Commander Erol. It will be an honor to race you next week," he bowed his head to the commander.

Erol grinned rather nastily, "Yes, an honor." With that as the last word, the platform lifted back into the air and the Donnovan and his team went back to celebrating the victory they just achieved.

"I feel sorry for that chump," a man said from next to Jak.

"Why? He won the race, right? Ain't that a good thing?" Daxter asked.

The elf, a skinny elf with blonde slicked back hair, just chuckled darkly as he puffed on his cigar, "Yeah, a real treat that," he smirked, "till ya realize he's got to race Erol next week."

"What's so special about that?"

"You kiddin' me? Erol's won every race in the years he's entered! You been livin' under a rock or somethin'?" The man turned to eye the trio.

"We just moved here, actually," Keira told the blonde man, "I'm Keira, he's Jak, and the orange one is Daxter," she gestured to the boys in turn, "So, why is it such a bad thing to race Erol?"

The blonde man looked at the three of them for a moment as he took another drag on his cigar, "Name's Jinx. And Erol is a complete psychopath, toots. Never seen a man more vicious than him, on or off the track. Most the racers that make it to Class One have learned to just let him take the lead and compete for second place. It's better than dyin' for first place. But that chump," Jinx gestured to the still celebrating race team, "Erol always takes a special interest in the new guys. Makes sure to teach 'em a lesson, you know? He'll be lucky if he makes it out of that race walkin'."

Before more could be said, Jinx stood up, taking a final puff off his cigar and blowing smoke out into the air, "If you three are as new as you look, you gotta big decision to make. You're either with the Baron," he sent a pointed look over at a picture of the Baron telling people to obey, "or against him. There ain't no middle ground here. Either way, ya should probably keep your nose out of other people's business. Around here, it ain't a good idea to go around helping anyone but yourself." With his good deed for the day done, Jinx left the trio there. He really wouldn't have said anything normally, but to be honest, that girl was cute, and he'd hate to see a young thing like that dead 'cause he didn't give her a warning. And that Jak kid looked like he was one of those hero types. Probably get himself killed if someone didn't say something to him before hand.

Jak's eyes followed Jinx as he left the stadium before cutting back to the last place he'd seen Erol. Call it paranoia, but he got the idea just now that they would have a world of trouble from the commander.

"Sheesh! What's with this place?!" Daxter finally demanded loudly, drawing a few looks, but most people kept to themselves as they began to vacate the stadium, "Is everything here all messed up or is it just me?" He looked to Jak and Keira receiving nods of their heads in return, "They can't even race normally!"

Jak looked back to the track as one of the still living but heavily injured racers was being carted away in the aftermath of the races. It said something about this city, and its people, that they would wait till _after_ the celebration of one team's victory to go to the aide of the injured racers.

Jak frowned and firmed his resolve. They needed to get away from this place. He really didn't like having Keira in the middle of this mess. Never mind his own safety, after all the danger he'd faced, almost lackadaisically, in stopping Gol and Maia, he knew he could take more than your standard elf and come out the other side feeling pretty good. But Keira, and Daxter even, wouldn't be able to protect themselves the same way he could. And in a city where even their sports were life and death battles, that didn't leave Jak feeling too comfortable about his ability to protect them.

"Come on," Keira said standing up, "I would still like to take a look at their bikes," she admitted. She hated sounding so callous, but she needed to take her mind off of the stress of this surprisingly long day and the best way for her to do that was to look at a motor.

Jak nodded. He moved up and grabbed her hand in his for a moment, giving hers a firm squeeze before letting go. Just something to prove to both her and himself that at least they were still together through this.

Daxter even recognized the mood. And that's why he had to change it. He knew the perfect way to do it.

"Ignoring the violence amongst our fellow elf," he mumbled at first, "how fast do you think those bikes were goin'?"

Keira shrugged, a slight grin making its way onto her face, "I'm not entirely sure, the course didn't have a long enough straight away to get a good feeling for it. And that pink stuff they were picking up, I think that was what allowed them to boost. I need a closer look at the engine before I can get an estimate of what they're really capable of. I'm also trying to figure out how they replaced the propeller entirely..." Keira began a long discussion on technical theory that neither one of the boys could follow. But it served it's purpose. The stress of the day so far began to ease. Daxter's job was done.

After exiting the spectator's area of the stadium they made their way around to the garages. Most of them were closed down and the few that weren't just glared the three of them away. Jak honestly wondered how anyone could take the kicked croca-dog eyes Keira was unconsciously giving without bowing to whatever it is she wanted.

Finally, they found a garage that was open, and no one was there to glare at them.

"But what if someone comes back and thinks we're trying to steal something?" Keira protested weakly as Jak pushed her into the garage to look at the heavily damaged Zoomer.

Daxter waved away her concerns from Jak's shoulder, "Hey, what exactly would we steal here? Empty bottles of oil? Bent fenders? Only thing more to do to this heap is to blow it up, and you just want to take a look at it."

Keira was reluctant still, looking towards the entrance, just waiting for another angry elf to come in and kick them out, but her restraint could only last so long. Almost before she was consciously aware of it, she had a wrench in hand and was moving towards the bike.

In less than ten minutes she was already amazed at what she'd found and she wasn't even fully to the engine yet. She tinkered with a few more bolts to remove the last of the outer casing.

"Oh, wow..." She uttered as she began poking at random pieces of the engine she could see. It was so... _compact_. There was no way the engine she'd made for Jak's Zoomer could fit in this, but at the same time, this one went so much faster it wasn't even funny. But she found out that they did still use propellers, they were just _inside_ the vehicles. At least they did in this racing model. They had actually turned the propeller into a turbine that sucked in air. The air was immediately pushed into the engine and that, combined with a spark of electricity, lit the fuel in the engine, the fire from the fuel was what blasted out the back of the engine creating thrust.

She began to explain all of this to Jak and Daxter as she began to remove the engine using a chain pulley system that was already there.

"But it doesn't seem like this is really running at it's fullest potential," she said to Jak who was trying to pay attention. Daxter had given up all pretenses and just fell directly to sleep on Jak's shoulder, "From what I'm seeing here, this turbine should be able to pull in more oxygen the faster it goes, allowing it to go faster which allows it to get _more_ oxygen, creating a nearly endless loop of potential speed. But for some reason this one has a little part right here, see?" She pointed out a bulky bit of equipment that was just behind the turbine, "It's limiting the speed, it's redirecting the air away from the engine and causing it to only achieve half the speed in twice the time. I wonder why they did that..."

"Yes," came a sudden growling voice from the entrance of the garage, "I find myself wondering the very same."

Jak spun around quick as lightning, Daxter fell off his perch to land face first on the ground, and Keira nearly jumped three feet in the air.

Now standing in the garage with them were two men, a skinny fellow that was a bit taller than Jak with a look of shock on his face as he stared at Keira, and a noticeably taller man who was sending a stern look at the first elf. The first man realized that he was being looked at by the second and panicked a little.

"Hey, c'mon boss, she doesn't know what she's talkin' about. I mean, c'mon Mister Krane, I've been working for you for years, I wouldn't lie," the skinny elf in the overalls said.

The one that he called 'Mister Krane' regarded him for a moment before turning to Keira an walking forward with the aide of a cane, "Young Miss," he intoned in a rather rich baritone and the slightest accent, "would you be confident enough in your work to test it?"

Keira, who was about to sputter a few apologies for invading their garage, blinked in surprise, then nodded.

"Yes, yes sir," she was a little nervous, "and I'm sorry about just coming in here uninvited, but I've never seen anything like the vehicles around here before. I mean, I built one back home, but compared to these I was banging rocks together to make water," Keira rambled on, earning an amused look from Krane.

"It's quite alright, dear," the old man assured her, "at worst, you've done nothing to an already broken engine, and only for the sake of curiosity. At best, you've improved my chances at winning one of these races eventually."

"Come on, boss!" The other man pleaded, "You don't actually think she's-"

"Bean," Krane said calmly, but with an undercurrent of steel, "Be quiet."

"Y-yes sir," Bean backed away from his boss and sat down on a tool bench.

"Jak, could you give me a hand here?" Keira asked. Seeing as they weren't in trouble, Jak just nodded and moved over to help her with anything she needed, most likely the heavy lifting. He was therefore surprised when she basically used him as a tool rack, stacking a bunch of tools in his arms before proceeding to move the engine back into the Zoomer, and reconnecting the fuel hose. She made sure it was secure then turned it on, which was surprising enough given that it had hardly been in a working state before she'd set her hands on it.

It hummed to life and hovered about a foot off the ground. She revved it a couple of times, and the bikes hum turned into a buzz of strength.

"Hey, you didn't even do anything!" Bean insisted.

"Wow," Keira mumbled, ignoring the man, "This is one powerful machine. And that's just the control test!"

Daxter was already grinning, anticipating their girl showing this Bean guy up in his own garage.

"Control test?" Krane asked.

"Yeah, I have to be sure of what I'm working for here. I'm pretty sure I'm right, but it never hurts to test it out first."

Turning off the bike she began to take the tools from Jak's arms one at a time as she needed them. First she removed the fuel lines, then the turbine, and then the device that was reducing the Zoomer's speed. She gave the engine another once over to make sure that she wasn't missing something, and managed to find that the exhaust system was also nearly completely shut off. She opened that up with some spot welding, then reattached the turbine and the fuel line.

When Keira hit the ignition this time the Zoomer _screamed_. When she revved the engine the very ground beneath it shook.

Bean's jaw seemed fit to hit the floor, Daxter's smug grin could almost be felt, and Mister Krane's eyes were as wide as Jak's as he heard the cacophony coming from the vehicle.

Keira turned it off a few seconds later, smiling at he vehicle longingly.

"You've got a great machine here, Mister Krane. I just wish I could work with it some more," She laid a hand gently on the hull like it were an animal she wanted to keep as a pet.

Krane moved forward, hobbling on his cane as he did. He peered at some of the dials on the machine, looking over the read outs as Keira, Jak and Daxter began to leave.

"Bean," Krane spoke just as the trio reached the entrance.

"Yes, boss?"

"You're fired."

"What?! You can't do that! I'm the best mechanic you've ever had!" Bean exploded at his former boss.

Krane ignored him and moved as quickly as he could after the three teens.

"Young Miss!" He called after them, getting their attention, "Young Miss, I find myself with an opening for a mechanic in my garage. If you would like the job, it is most certainly yours."

"But what about Bean?"

Almost as if in answer to her question, said man could be seen as he was escorted out by the stadium security, still shouting obscenities at Krane.

"I find myself no longer in need of his inferior services," the man said calmly, "I'm curious though, was that truly your first time examining a racing Zoomer?"

Keira nodded, a slight blush on her cheeks under the subtle praise. Jak and Daxter were just grinning.

"Astounding," the man straightened up for a moment, "Now, as I said, there is an opening and I would be delighted if you chose to fill that spot."

Keira sighed, "I would love to, really I would, but I honestly don't know how long I'll be staying, Mister Krane, and I wouldn't want to leave a job half done."

Krane bowed his head to her, "I'm deeply sorry to hear that, my dear. I'll not push, but know that if you decide to stay in Haven, there will always be an opening in my garage for you." Krane turned and began to hobble away, while Keira turned back to find the boys giving her a questioning look.

"I can't," she said, "We're supposed to be finding Daddy, then getting out of here."

Jak just lifted an eyebrow.

"I know we gotta find grandpa green, but why do we gotta leave immediately?" Daxter asked.

"Did you forget that there's some crazy elf and his army after Jak?" Keira asked with a frown.

Jak now just crossed his arms and gave her a look that could be interpreted as 'And your point is?'

"Hey babe, we faced down Gol and Maia and their giant frickin' robot without a problem. One little army ain't nothin', right Jak?" Daxter boasted while crossing his own arms.

Keira just looked at the two of them like they were crazy, "You're actually considering staying? Really thinking about it seriously? The consequences and everything?"

Jak nodded once curtly, "Trust us," Dax spoke on his behalf, "we can handle anything this city throws at us."

Keira was still trying to think of a protest, but her own techie side was warring against her logic right alongside Jak and Daxter. And the logic wasn't winning.

"Oh fine! We'll stay in the city after we find Daddy," She huffed. This earned a grin from Jak. He wondered if she knew how cute she was when she was trying to be obstinate. Before she could try to change the topic though he began pushing her back in the direction of Mister Krane, "Alright already! I get it," she laughed a little at their enthusiasm. It was rather endearing.

She ran forward, "Mister Krane!"

The man turned to face her, a speculative look on his face, "Yes?"

"I'd like to accept the position after all."

The man turned a winning grin on her, "Splendid! Absolutely splendid," he reached into a pocket and pulled out a small card, "Here, this is a prepaid card. It's an advance for the work you did. It would have been Bean's bonus had he managed to nab us a win. It's got roughly two hundred Precursor Orbs to it for now. The pay is seventy five Orbs a week. Is that okay?"

Keira's eyes widened. That... was a lot of money. Jak might still have a couple hundred orbs in his pouch, but he had gotten them through exploring some of the most dangerous parts of the land back home, in places most people would never go, yet he had braved them for the sake of turning his friend back to normal at first, then saving the world. And this man had handed her something that was apparently worth two hundred orbs as a sign on benefit for being his mechanic!

"Th-thank you, Mister Krane! I wont let you down," She stood straight.

Krane just gave her a kind smile as he spoke, "I'm sure you wont dear. Now, I don't believe I caught your name."

"Oh, sorry, I'm Keira, these are my friends, Jak and Daxter." She looked back at the boys.

"Splendid. I will see you tomorrow morning, at nine A.M., Keira." With that the man turned and left while Keira went back to Jak and Dax.

"So, how'd it go?" Daxter asked.

"I'm hired," Keira said with a grin.

"Like there was any doubt," Daxter crossed his small arms proudly.

"And he gave me a two hundred orb advance!"

"Whoa!" Daxter's eyes bugged out and even Jak found himself surprised.

"Tell me about it!" Keira exclaimed, "That's enough to buy Daddy's hut back home! And then he tells me I'm getting another seventy five orbs a week! This is kind of overwhelming."

"You know," Dax said, distracted from the obscene amount of money that Keira was being paid for her new job, "that does bring up the question of where we're supposed to stay."

Jak and Keira frowned. They hadn't thought of that little detail yet.

"Well, we'll stay in a hotel for now, I guess, and look for somewhere to live tomorrow," Keira suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Dax decided, and Jak nodded his ascent as well.

Chapter Two: Wort, Part One End

AN: This is actually less than a third of what I had planned for Chapter Two. But I live be the strict standard of never going over five thousand words per chapter. I have my own reasons for such a number, but also know that none of my chapters will ever be less than two thousand words. The second part of this will be up as soon as I can write it out.


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